Rafael Nadal defeats del Potro at Wimbledon despite injured foot

WIMBLEDON – Considering the way the two combatants were striking the ball, the match between Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin del Potro on Centre Court on Monday evening had the makings of a classic.

But there were so many little side dramas that the moments of brilliance – and there were many – will get lost in the retelling.

Nadal prevailed 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4, and will face surprising American Mardy Fish in the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Wednesday.

But before that, Nadal will have an MRI on his left foot, specifically his heel, to determine the extent of an injury suffered midway through the first set and aggravated 6-5 in that set.

“I felt that I broke my foot at that moment. The point with the deuce, that point give me the set point, in that point I felt terrible, no?” a worried Nadal said afterward.

Nadal stopped play right before the tiebreak began, technically before he was to serve. But the delay was close to 10 minutes, and del Potro was furious with Chair Umpire Carlos Ramos for allowing it.

Earlier in the set, Nadal was equally agitated when Ramos issued him a code violation for the excessive time he always takes between points.

After the medical timeout, the Spaniard came back hitting the ball as hard as he possibly could to take the tiebreak, which concluded on a del Potro double fault.

He certainly seemed to be running like the wind, although he later said he had major issues moving to his left to defend his forehand.

Nadal said he has had several physical issues this week, including his knee. So he was cranky about a lot of different subjects after the win over del Potro, including the time violation.

He felt in this particular instance, he wasn’t taking too much time although, in Nadal’s case, the very notion of time is rather elastic.

He also went off on the International Tennis Federation about the scheduling of Davis Cup after confirming he won’t go to Austin, Tex., the week after Wimbledon to lead the Spanish team against the U.S. Perhaps Nadal forgot the players had voted on that very change.

The other men’s quarterfinals were determined with somewhat less drama, except for the match between Feliciano Lopez and qualifier Lukasz Kubot.

Lopez, down two sets to none, came back to win 3-6, 6-7, 7-6 (9-7 in the tiebreaker), 7-5, 7-5 and will face No. 4 seed Andy Murray in the quarterfinals.

Murray fought off a potentially serious challenge from No. 17 Richard Gasquet of France and came away with a 7-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.

Roger Federer dropped the first set to No. 18 seed Mikhail Youzhny, but prevailed 6-7, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 and next will play a resurgent Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Wednesday.

The surprise of the tournament on the men’s side, 18-year-old qualifier Bernard Tomic of Australia, breezed to his first major quarterfinal with a 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 over Xavier Malisse of Belgium.

Tomic will meet frequent practice partner Novak Djokovic, who also had a potentially dangerous matchup in the person of serve-and-volleyer Michael Llodra – always a threat on a fast surface.

But Djokovic, the No. 2 seed, won 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

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